Collision course with humanity

AS Donal Hickey reported on this page last week, a sea-eagle has been killed by a turbine blade in Kerry.

Wind-farms are a new hazard but flying has long been a risky business; birds crash into lighthouses on foggy nights and countless others die on the roads. Glass-fronted buildings can also be lethal.

In 2004, a flock of waxwings roosted near an office-block in St Stephen’s Green in Dublin. The little Scandinavian visitors kept crashing into windows. At least a dozen of them died. Small birds should not be so vulnerable; they can change direction quickly to avoid a collision. Large birds are much more at risk. Heavy and cumbersome flyers, they will crash into anything which appears suddenly in their flight path. It’s no surprise that Ireland’s largest bird, the mute swan, is the one most prone to collisions.